What happens to your recycling

Have you ever wondered what happens to all the food waste you recycle?

Where it’s taken, and what it’s turned into?

You have? Great! Let’s go and find out. By putting food waste in your kitchen caddy

rather than the bin, you are the first part of an important chain.

The contents of the caddy go into your outdoor food bin which is collected every week and

taken to sites in either Kingston or Sutton before it’s all transported to an anaerobic digestion facility in Surrey. This place treats 50,000 tonnes of food waste and other organic matter every year. Everything from fruit and veg peelings, to egg shells, meat and fish bones, teabags and the odd apple core too.

But what happens to it? We feed it to a cow obviously.

Not a real cow though, we call this the concrete cow – it’s a highly sophisticated process

that mimics a cow’s digestive system, transforming all that food waste into organic bio fertilizer.

Farmers use this to help grow their crops – making some of the food that will end up back on your plate. And here's the really clever bit.

Gasses given off from the digestion process are captured and used to generate electricity,

which is fed into the National Grid – powering thousands of homes.

So, none of the waste is wasted. So you see, we do some pretty amazing stuff with your food waste. But without you, none of this could happen.

Thank you for helping us recycle more, and waste less.

Have you ever wondered what happens to all the paper and card you recycle?

Where it’s taken, and what it’s turned into?

You have? Great! Let’s go and find out. Mmmm, nice jumper!

The cardboard delivery box you put in your wheelie bin along with newspapers, card, envelopes and paper stays nice and dry. It’s collected every 2 weeks, and stored at one of four locations, before heading off to UK paper mills like this one in north Wales.

Here, it’s washed to remove inks, staples and glue, and then mixed with water to create a slurry. By adding different materials to this slurry, a variety of paper-based products can be created.

So all your used paper and cardboard is recycled into - yes, you’ve guessed it – new newspapers, cardboard boxes and other paper products too. Nice shoes!

They’ll go well with the jumper. So you see, we do some pretty amazing stuff with your paper and card recycling. But without you, none of this could happen.

Thank you for helping us recycle more, and waste less.

Have you ever wondered what happens to all the plastic, glass, cans and cartons you recycle?

Where they’re taken, and what they’re turned into?

You have? Great! Let’s go and find out.

All of your plastic, glass, cans and cartons go into your recycling wheelie bin or box.

They’re collected every two weeks and taken to one of four locations, where they’re bulked up, ready for the next stage of the

journey. Which is a trip to a Materials Recovery Facility - like the one operated by Veolia in Rainham - one of several recycling sorting facilities

we use in the south of England. Here, the plastics, glass, cans and cartons are sorted by machine and by hand.

Each of the separated materials are baled, then sold on to specialist reprocessors. Glass and metals are pretty easy materials to deal with - they can be melted down and turned into new products.

Plastics are trickier. There are over 50 different types – some better quality than others.

Lower quality plastics are sent to re-processors in the UK for recycling whenever possible – but sometimes we have to send them to recycling facilities in other parts of Europe.

Wherever they end up, our partner, Veolia works hard to make sure all the plastic is recycled and handled in the most environmentally friendly way possible.

Higher quality plastics, like milk bottles, are easier to deal with. Most of these are processed much closer to home; at Veolia’s own specialist facility in Dagenham.

The plastic bottles are shredded, washed, then melted down into pellets.

These pellets are used to make anything from clothing, chairs and toys, to more plastic bottles. So you see, we do some pretty amazing stuff with your plastics, glass, cans and cartons.

But without you, none of this could happen.

Thank you for helping us recycle more, and waste less.

Have you ever wondered what happens to your non-recyclable rubbish?

Where it’s taken, and what it’s turned into?

You have? Great! Let’s go and find out.

Sadly, not all of the things we put in our bins can be recycled, however, it can still be useful.

Your general rubbish is collected every two weeks and taken to the Beddington energy recovery facility in Sutton.

Here it's burnt at high temperatures in strictly controlled conditions that make sure it’s efficient and safe.

The heat produces steam, which in turn drives a turbine and generates electricity.

And lots of it! The facility produces enough energy to power itself, plus around 55000 homes.

Even the leftover ash gets reprocessed and reused – in road building and construction. Clever stuff eh?

And much better than burying it in landfill, which is what used to happen.

But it’s important to remember that once this material is burnt, it's gone forever. So anything that can be recycled, should be recycled.

Thank you for helping us recycle more and waste less.